California attorney general candidates Steven Bailey, Xavier Becerra, Eric Early and Dave Jones, from left, participate in a forum at the SoCal Gas Energy Resource Center in Downey on Tuesday, May 15, 2018. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

DOWNEY — Debating his three election opponents for the first time, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra took criticism from all sides during a candidates forum Tuesday that featured sharp clashes over the state’s fight with the Trump administration and disagreements about the very purpose of the powerful office.

“I feel like Goldilocks. I’m too hot, I’m too cold,” Becerra said during one series of exchanges with fellow Democrat Dave Jones as well as Republicans Steven Bailey and Eric Early. “I think I’m just right.”

California attorney general candidates Steven Bailey, Xavier Becerra, Eric Early and Dave Jones, from left, participate in a forum at the SoCal Gas Energy Resource Center in Downey on Tuesday, May 15, 2018. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

California attorney general incumbent candidate Xavier Becerra addresses the crowd during a forum at the SoCal Gas Energy Resource Center in Downey on Tuesday, May 15, 2018. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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California attorney general candidates Steven Bailey, Xavier Becerra, Eric Early and Dave Jones, from left, participate in a forum at the SoCal Gas Energy Resource Center in Downey on Tuesday, May 15, 2018. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

California attorney general candidates Steven Bailey, Eric Early and Dave Jones, from left, listen to the moderators questions during a forum at the SoCal Gas Energy Resource Center in Downey on Tuesday, May 15, 2018. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

California attorney general candidate Dave Jones addresses the crowd as moderator Scott Kaufman listens during a forum at the SoCal Gas Energy Resource Center in Downey on Tuesday, May 15, 2018. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

California attorney general candidate Dave Jones, right, speaks as Eric Early listens during a forum at the SoCal Gas Energy Resource Center in Downey on Tuesday, May 15, 2018. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

California attorney general candidate Steven Bailey addresses the crowd during a forum at the SoCal Gas Energy Resource Center in Downey on Tuesday, May 15, 2018. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Scott Kaufman, Opinion Editor at the Southern California News Group, moderates a forum for California attorney general candidates at the SoCal Gas Energy Resource Center in Downey on Tuesday, May 15, 2018. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

California attorney general candidates Eric Early, left, reacts as Dave Jones speaks during a forum at the SoCal Gas Energy Resource Center in Downey on Tuesday, May 15, 2018. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

California attorney general candidates Steven Bailey, Xavier Becerra, Eric Early and Dave Jones, from left, participate in a forum at the SoCal Gas Energy Resource Center in Downey on Tuesday, May 15, 2018. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

California attorney general candidates Steven Bailey, Xavier Becerra, Eric Early and Dave Jones, from left, participate in a forum at the SoCal Gas Energy Resource Center in Downey on Tuesday, May 15, 2018. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Put on by the BizFed Institute with sponsorship by the Southern California News Group, and moderated by SCNG Opinion editor Scott Kaufman, the 70-minute debate kept returning to the question of whether Becerra focuses too much on battling President Trump on policies that clash with California’s on immigration law enforcement, environmental policies and health care.

Becerra, appointed attorney general in January 2017 by Gov. Jerry Brown after Kamala Harris moved to the U.S. Senate, has filed 32 lawsuits against the Trump administration.

Early, a Los Angeles-based attorney, called that an “outrage” and said Becerra seems “obsessed with Donald Trump.” Referring to the California sanctuary law Becerra defends, Early said, “People here illegally are being treated better than our citizens” and business owners are being caught in the middle.

Bailey, a retired judge from El Dorado County, called the lawsuits “frivolous” and said he would bring “a sense of criminal law” back to the attorney general’s office.

Jones, the California insurance commissioner who is seen as the incumbent’s leading challenger, said Becerra’s emphasis on fighting Trump limits his ability to pursue Democratic priorities such as policies to protect consumers and combat gun violence, prescription drug abuse and climate change.

“As a progressive, I would certainly file the same lawsuits,” Jones said.

“But there’s more to being attorney general than suing Donald Trump.”

Becerra, a former congressman from Los Angeles, said he is standing up for “California values” against “constitutional overreach” by the administration, and said public safety remains his top priority.

The four men are running in the June 5 primary, for which voting by mail is under way. The top two vote-getters, regardless of party, will square off in the Nov. 6 general election.

The event Tuesday was the first debate to feature all four.

Although the race has been overshadowed in California by contests for governor and congressional seats that are critical to the two major parties’ fight for control of the House of Representatives, the attorney general choice is an important election. Among the previous attorney generals who used the office as a steppingstone to higher offices were Earl Warren, Pat and Jerry Brown, George Deukmejian and Harris. And now, Becerra is on the front lines as California, which went for Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, battles Trump on emotional issues.

No issue is hotter than immigration and California’s controversial “sanctuary state” laws, which face a legal challenge from the Trump administration and blowback from some cities and counties. The basic argument in some quarters is that one of the state’s sanctuary laws, SB-54, violates the constitution by setting immigration policy, which is by law a federal responsibility.

Early said the sanctuary law should be called the “Illegal Immigrant Felon Protection Law.”

But Becerra said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are apprehending non-criminals, not just people with criminal records.

Jones said he, like Becerra, would defend the state’s sanctuary law, which he said enhances public safety by allowing undocumented immigrants to come forward to report crimes and aid investigations rather than hide from police.

The attorney general boasted of operations by his “small group of agents that have resulted in the confiscation of firearms from more than 18,000 people in California’s Armed Prohibited Persons System database.

Jones, however, said Becerra could take guns away from more dangerous people if he assigned more agents to the task.

“It’s about a lack of leadership,” Jones said.

Becerra said he has requested more money to add agents.

All three opponents blasted Becerra for doing too little to fight the opioid epidemic, Jones saying the Attorney General’s Office has been too slow to certify a database designed to prevent doctors from overprescribing opioids.

Kevin Modesti is a reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News and the Southern California News Group, covering the political scene in Los Angeles County. An L.A. native, he was a sports writer, columnist and editor for most of his career, and later an editorial board member, writer and editor in the Opinion section. He lives in the San Fernando Valley and is based in the Woodland Hills office.